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Basketball
Kansas State beat #12 West Virginia 84-68 at home for the Wildcats’ first Big 12 win of the season.
Wait, what? This team, the one that has looked like warmed over death for much of the conference season so far actually won a game, and not just any game but against a ranked team, and not just any win, but a dominant one? Wow.
The Wildcats owed this sudden turnaround to a career performance from Cartier Diarra who had 25 points, including 16 in the first half, while fellow senior Xavier Sneed added 16. But this game also marked the emergence of freshman DaJuan Gordon as a real threat. Gordon had 15 points and made three straight three-pointers.
Could be the spark this team needed to reignite the season? Maybe so, maybe no. But for now, it just feels good to be writing about a victory instead of yet another loss.
Meanwhile, the women will look to add to the weekend’s win total. They take on the Texas Longhorns at home this afternoon. The game tips off at noon, and will be available on ESPN+.
Tennis
The 2020 spring season for Kansas State tennis will begin on Monday when the Wildcats play host to Penn State. Matches begin at 11 AM.
This season, the team includes two seniors in Ines Mesquita and Meghan King, four juniors including Maria Linares, Anna Turco, Margot Decker, and transfer Lilla Barzo, and four sophomores, Ioana Gheorghita, Rosanna Maffei, and Karine-Marion Job.
Track
That Kansas State would win the KU-KSU-WSU Triangular was maybe a foregone conclusion. That Kansas State would dominate the competition was considerably less certain.
Still, that’s exactly what happened, with the Wildcats scoring 254.5 to WSU’s 221 and KU’s 191.5. All in all, Kansas State athletes won 12 events and finished second in several events, a solid effort considering many athletes competed in more than just one event and some were competing for the first time in certain disciplines.
Winners included Helene Ingvaldsen and Colin Echols (weight throw), Kyle Alcine (men’s high jump), Urte Bacianskaite and Cameron Lewis (shot put), Konstantina Romaiou and Tejaswin Shankar (triple jump), Ariel Okorie (women’s 60H), Antoni Hoyte-Small (men’s 600 yard), Macy Heinz and Travis Hodge (800m), and Kassidy Johnson (women’s 1000m).
Next up, the track team will return home to host the DeLoss Dodds Invitational at Ahearn Field House next Friday.